HARD CANDY
*** out of *****
Reviewed by Finger_Of_DOOM

Previously screened in the 2006 New Zealand International Film Festival
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Genres
Thriller

2005
Directed by
David Slade
Written by
Brian Nelson
Cast
Patrick Wilson .... Jeff Kohlver
Ellen Page .... Hayley Stark
Sandra Oh .... Judy Tokuda
Jennifer Holmes .... Janelle Rogers

As I sat down to watch Hard Candy I knew ahead of time what I was getting myself into, at least partly from the film’s trailer. But nothing could prepare me what I sat through. Allow me to set the scene: the film is about a male thirty-something professional photographer who likes to meet young girls over the internet, and by young I specifically mean 14-year-old girls. Man meets girl, man playfully tries to seduce girl but then the tables turn. Girl knocks man out, ties him up and begins a manipulative game of verbal cat and mouse that inevitably ends is torture. Welcome to Hard Candy. You could almost feel the tension in the cinema during the film’s first 15-20 minutes…director David Slade presses the right buttons to create a mood that is not only awkward but wholly disturbing, playing these characters off each other like a wolf eyeing up its prey (his use of Little Red Riding Hood imagery is unmistakable) and provides some of the films most uncomfortable moments…well that is until young Hayley does what she does to force a confession of his paedophilia. Then it gets even more disturbing and somewhat unbearable.

Before I get into the meat of the film, let’s begin with Brian Nelson’s well-paced and executed screenplay. Nelson does a fine job of introducing us to these two characters and providing us with just enough information to pass judgment onto them. The photographer, Jeff, is a straight-laced well mannered charmer. He doesn’t encompass the stereotypical Hollywood image of what a paedophile is, quite the opposite in fact. It’s as if the crew from Queer Eye came in and gave the Hollywood paedophile a new look to put off any trace of the fact that this man is a sexual predator. The young girl on the other hand is sweet, naïve and epitomises the innocent girl next door…this is of course what we are led to believe anyway. For those that have not seen the film’s trailer what comes next would be a bit of a surprise…but for those that have not seen the trailer expect a turn of events that will leave you speechless.

Nelson’s script moves along a razor’s edge, and the dialogue is one of the true strengths. Hayley successfully plays on Jeff’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses and Jeff, pleading his case makes for interesting viewing. We soon begin to realise the extent to Hayley’s plot and that culminates in {SPOILER WARNING} what is quite possibly one of the most unbearable scenes committed to film, achieved with great writing, performance and showing no direct gore…that scene is a homemade castration, complete with icepack, razor and surgical tools. I don’t think I’d ever attended a screening where you could literally cut the tension among the audience, I found myself constantly shifting in my seat and a quick survey of the general public showed that I was not the only one. {END OF SPOILERS} As mentioned before, this scene is sold with the terrific performances from the film’s two leads, so much so that you begin to have pity for Jeff and start to feel a little disgusted by Hayley. Here lies the genius of the writing, it challenges the audience, who do you sympathies with? Does someone like Jeff deserve the punishment he’s getting? Nelson draws a blurry line much the same say Tim Robbins did in Dead Man Walking.

The script is brilliantly realised by director David Slade whose slick visuals coat the film with an otherwise uneasy feel, and it’s also realised by casting Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson. Page has an uncanny ability to go from sweet and innocent to intensely disturbing, she delivers a solid performance and displays an impressive gamut of emotion. Despite her rather obvious talent, her performance was very mature for the character and in many ways negatively affected the film and its overall impact. I was constantly doubting how someone her age (14) could possibly do the things she did, some of which are entirely ludicrous, such as dragging an unconscious grown man and tying him up with an intricate rope-noose system hanging from the ceiling…this was given slight explanation by alerting us to the fact she was ‘an honour student’ and ‘could do anything if she put her mind to it.’ But in all seriousness, all the mind power one can muster still doesn’t explain how a 14-year-old girl with a slender physique managed to hoist an unconscious man more than 2-½ times her weight up with a noose around his neck.

On the other end of the spectrum we have Patrick Wilson, who aside from looking like Will Arnett (who plays Gob on Arrested Development -to be honest I half expected him to shoot pennies from his cuff to the strains of “The Final Countdown” by Europe) managed to do something rather astonishing with his character; he managed to make me feel sorry for him. This is mainly due to the viciousness that was directed towards him more than anything else, but his audacious performance also aided in that somewhat. If anything you could say about Hard Candy it’s that the casting is perfect and the performances are nothing short of spectacular. Slade has done some gruelling work with these actors and it certainly pays off, however, I find it difficult to recommend it, purely for its sheer intensity. If you’re at all curious then by all means go check it out.

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